Heel of boots and shoes



Ratented Mar. 17,1925, i

a UNITE-D STATE-S I 1 1,530,301 PATENT F I E.-

JOSEPH MABKHAM cOOxF, .OF s'rAFFOnn, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T WESTBROOK,cOOKF LTD., OF r m BOROUGH AND COUNTY OF STAFFORD, NGLAND, A CORPORA-TION OF GREAT- BRITAIN.

HEEL OF BOOTS AND SHOE'S,

' Application filed May 25,1923; Serial No. e41,4a7.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osnrrr EDWIN MARK- HAM GOOKE, a British subject,residing at Stafford, England, have invented certain 5 new and usefulImprovements in Heels'of B 138 and Shoes, of which the followingis aspecification.

" The present invention relates to heels for boots or shoes and moreparticularlyto. an

improved-type of heel which is capable of attachment either in' themanufacture or the repair of a boot or shoe. 1

The object of the present invention is to provide a boot-orshoe' heelwhich shall be superior to existing types of. heel from the standpointof weight, wearing qualities, -fa-- cility ofattachment and cost ofmanufacw ture. This. object is attained through the employment of a heelbody or core consisting of a series of ply-wood lifts built in thegeneral shape of .a heel and completely surrounded about the sidesandbottom or tread by an integral covering of rubber or'similar.vulcanizable material molded 'thereabout and adhering thereto. The upperface of the core is substantially coincident with the upper or attachingface of the finished heel 5 and in effect constitutesthe major portion,of the attaching face of the heel. Under certain conditions ofmanufacture, the outer covering may be turned inwardly over theattaching face in the form of a relatively thin or skim coating ofrubber or vulcanizable material. a

Thisform of heel is particularly adapted for use as a whole heelattached directly to the sole of av'boot or shoe in place of the usualheel consisting of leather, leatherboard or wooden lifts either withorwithout a tread lift of resilient materi'alfsuch as rubber. Thepresent heel is lighter than whole heels made either entirely of rubberor of rubber and leather or leather substitutes and in addition has thevery 'dis tinct advantage that'it is completedin the molding Operationand does not require any "substantial finishing operation after application to the boot or shoe. I

. The heel maybe readily attached to the sole of a. boot or shoeby'mea'ns of.nails orfastenings driven into the wooden core or body ofthe heel, the latter serving to hold'the nails and prevent looseningof'the heel. In th illustrated embodiment 5f the invention, the nailsare driven into the plywood body from the inside of the shoe, al-

. though it isevident that this method of attachment might be modifiedif so desired. The employment of the ply-Wood core of substantial areaavoids the necessity of accurately locating the attaching nails or fas'tenings either during the manufacture of thebootor shoeor its repair."Furthermore, the employment ofa built up core or body of ply-wood servesto hold the nails or fas- -'ten1ngs securely without liabilityof-cracking Or splitting the core through penetration of the nails.

In the accompanying drawingsillustrating the preferred form of theinvention Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a heel consisting of a bodybuilt up of ply-wood lifts and provided with a resilient cover, the heelbeing shown as attached to a sole-by nails driven 'therethrough; Fi tionof the heel s own in Fig. 1 before attachment to a sole; Fig. 3 isa topplan view of the heel shown in Figs.- 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is a detailshowing a section of the heel 2 is a longitudinal secand illustratingthe stepping of the lifts.'-

, The heel shown in the illustrated embodi-' *ment of the inventioncomprises a: wooden body or core A having approximately the contour ofthe finished heel with a concave upperor attaching face. The centralcore is formed of a series of ply-wood lifts a, having the ain crossed,which are secured 'to one anot being indicated for this purpose. Thesepa-. rate ply-wood lifts may be stepped, as shown in Fig. .4, toobviate any possibility of the rubber or vulcanizahle cover becomingseparated from the body of the heel. Stepping of the plies tends to.facilitate thepenetration of rubber thercbetween during the-vulcanizingoperation and aidsin bonding the cover to core A is completelysurrounded at the sides and bottom or tread face by a "casing or coverof riibber or other vulcanizable marteor in a suitable manner, nails e-theiwoodenbody. -Thebody or rial molded and vulcanized'to the body andforming the tread portion B of the heel.

h b ck an ide f he h portion of the area of the heel inside the K hasthe general contour of the heel and is concave convex in section. Thefinished heel is provided with a flat tread face, as indicated in Figs.1 and 2 and the shape and location of the core within the finished heelis such that the tread portion is thicker throughout the area ofgreatest wear, as indicated at the rearportion h and about the outeredges of the heel. 7

When applied to a'boot or shoe, the upper face of the heel body or coreis placed directly in contact with the attaching face of the shoe andsecured thereto by nails or 'fastenings 0 passing through the core and15- l ing heel body or core in direct contact with the shoe sole i'The.location of the unyieldthe attaching face of the shoe provides a 'methodof firmly attaching the heel to the shoe and minimizes the liabilityof-the heel working loose after application. It should be"understood,inthis connection that the presence of a relatively thin or skim coat-.ing of rubber or vulcanizable material extending inwardly over aportion of the atmaterially lighter t taching face of the wooden body,as shown in Fig. 4, will not interfere with the function or mode ofoperation of the heel body as described. I

According to the resent invention, a heel han other heels adapted forthe same general purpose has beenproduced without impairing any of thedesirable characteristics of the heel. Furthermore the heel is welladapted to existing methods of manufacture and permits dispensing withcertain operations essential to the manufacture and attachment of othertypes of heel.

' It is obvious that the invention herein.

shown, described and claimed may be applied to various kinds of heels,either whole heels or half heels or heel lifts and where reference. ismade in the specification and claims to heels, it is intended to includeperils of various kinds, halfheels and heel The use of the term rubber.throughout the specification. and claims is intended to cover not onlyrubber and rubber compounds but the use of similar or equivalentvulcanizable gums andcompounds which may be molded and vulcanized in asimilar manner to rubber and when so molded and vulcanized will have thesame general characteristics of resiliency and wear.

Having thus described the iiwention, what is claimed is: i

1. A heel for boots or shoes having a body portion extending throughoutthe major margin and consisting of a plurality of 'plies of woodconnected together, and anintegral covering of rubber completelysurrounding the sides and bottom of the body portion, the cover beingmolded in the form of a heel and bonded to the ply-wood body portion andextending'partially across the top of the body portion, the cover beingmolded in the form of a heel and bonded to the ply-wood body during thevulcanizing operat1on.

3. A heel for boots and shoes having an outer rubber cover molded andvulcanized in the contour of a heel, and a relatively unyielding heelshaped core consisting of a plurality of connected thinplies of materialunaffected by the vulcanizing operation embedded in the outercover andbonded thereto during the vulcanizing operation.

4. A heel for boots or shoes having a body portion consisting of aseries of plies of wood with the grain crossed and united to one anotherto provide a heel shaped member with uneven side portions, and an outercovering ofrubber molded about the sides and bottom of the body andbonded thereto during the vulcanizing operation to fotm a finished heel.t I 5. A heel for boots or shoes havingan outer cover of rubber moldedin the con-- tour of a heel, and a body of thin plies of wood embeddedin the outer cover and bonded there-to during the vulcanizing operation.

6. A heel for boots or shoes having an outer molded cover of rubber witha flat tread face and the contour. of a heel, and

a bodyof thin plies of wood stepped with relation to one anotherand'embedded in the outer cover. and bonded thereto, the upper face ofthe body constit'utingaportion of the attaching face of the heel.

7. A heel for boots or shoes having an; outer molded cover of rubberwith a flat tread face and the contour of a heel, and

abody of thin plies of wood stepped with relation toone another andembedded in the outer cover and bonded thereto.

In testimony whereof I- have aflixed my signature.

Joseph sew u maxim: (200KB.

